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   My research has taken two routes. The first is the impact that goals have on the way consumers interpret marketing communication. The second route is the impact that goals have on how consumers use products, both market and non-market products. For more information about my research please see my Publications.

   My dissertation investigated the impact that consumers’ goals and communication strategy have on the formation of an image for a brand. This information can be used to develop a firm’s long-term product introduction strategy. We demonstrated that products are linked together by their ability to fulfill a set of goals common to the core product category. This same concept must be incorporated into the communication strategy for brand extensions. Along with this research, I am continuing to investigate the impact that goals have on how communication strategies can be used to more effectively communicate with consumers. This includes the impact that consumer goals have on how product instructions, disclosures, warnings, and other types of communications are used by consumers.

  In addition, I have investigated the influence of consumer goals and risk perceptions on how consumers mitigate the risks associated with natural disasters such as wildfires. My colleagues and I have received over $750,000 as funding for this research through the U.S. Forest Service and National Fire Plan Funds.The information from this set of research has been used to develop strategies for homeowners living in the wildland urban interface and policy makers to mitigate this risk.

   I recently expanded my research in consumer goals to look at the role that Terror Management has on how consumers use various types of marketing communication such as warnings, public service announcements, and other types of disclosures to affect their choice to mitigate risks. This research hypothesizes that because consumers do not feel comfortable facing death-related images and information, they are not likely to attend to health-related messages. Instead, we hypothesize that other types of messages such as focusing social risk and loss of social relationship messages are more likely to be effective at encouraging consumers to mitigate their risks.  We are currently looking at smokers, social smokers, as well as young adults at risk of starting to smoke. This ongoing research will also be linked with consumers’ goals to investigate the possible impact of these two on how consumers interpret and heed marketing communications. An extension of this research is the investigation of how magical beliefs affect consumers' healthy lifestyle behaviors.

 

 

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